It’s a simple concept that Sharp has paired with features that make it truly useful. A carrying handle and kickstand make it easy to move and set up, and support from Sharp’s remote hardware make it easy enough to get content to the screen from close range. The base station connects to the television via its own private WiFi connection, and can handle video from standard HDMI or RGB inputs.

The larger 32-inch, 42-inch and 60-inch models retain the low weight, handles and kickstands that make the smaller Freestyle so handy, but don’t have batteries and require the standard AC connection. It isn’t an ideal solution, since the battery is only rated for two hours – but that should be enough to find a power outlet. Sharp doesn’t have any plans to release the Freestyle televisions in North America at the moment, but they’ll be available in Japan soon, and enough consumer interest could lead them to expand their markets.

Sharp’s involvement in iPad 3 components was first rumored back in November last year, following reports earlier in 2011 that claimed Apple was considering a $1bn investment in a Sharp display plant. The status of that potential investment is unknown, however, though Sharp continues to supply panels for Apple’s iPhone.

That iPhone partnership, at least, is expected to continue, with reports that Apple will use the company’s displays for the sixth-generation handset expected to debut later this year. Such panels are believed to use low-temperature poly-silicon technology (p-Si LCD) for its lower power consumption and the fact that it enables thinner, lighter screens.

Although Apple has been hampered by stock shortages with both its first- and second-generation tablets, the company also has a high standard of screen quality it insists on. That standard has led to issues in the past, with LG Display apparently encountering production issues that forced Apple to temporarily freeze its orders with the company, later believed to be responsible – at least in part – for a scarcity of units in the marketplace.

[via Patently Apple]

A probe into allegations of similar anti-competitive activities among LCD manufacturers took place back in December 2006, which led to the several companies and execs pleading guilty and paying more than $890 million in fines. This latest settlement is to address claims by consumers as well as by eight states, including Arkansas, California, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, New York, West Virgina, and Wisconsin.

The companies involved include Samsung, Sharp, Hitachi, Epson, Chi Mei, HannStar, and Chunghwa. In addition to the fine, they will be required to engage in antitrust compliance programs and cooperate with ongoing prosecution of other companies that may have participated.

[via Engadget]

The sensor is only 5.47mm thick and has a 12.1MP resolution. It also has 1/3.2 type optical image stabilization. That means that it’s thin and has clear high-resolution images. Sharp will start shipping the new sensor in February 12. I would bet that we will see a lot of smartphones using this new sensor next year.

The camera sensor also has auto focus and it can record 1080p video as well using the reduce camera shake feature. The model of the new sensor is RJ63YC100 and a sample sensor sells for 12,000 yen. Samples will ship tomorrow with production kicking off on January 10. Sharp plans to make 100,000 of the new camera sensors monthly.

The source also claims that the Apple is investing in Sharp’s Japanese manufacturing facilities. Although no investment figure was divulged, we’ve heard rumors from analysts previously that Apple planned to invest $1 billion. The move is part of Apple’s efforts to work with multiple component makers to ensure sufficient supply of parts for its iPhones and iPads.

The source further claims that Apple already uses Sharp displays in its iPhones and plans to also use Sharp displays for its next-gen iPhone that’s due out sometime next year. LG and Samsung were said to supply the displays for Apple’s iPad 2, with a supply bottleneck earlier this year that was rumored to be the result of some faulty light leaking displays from LG, although these reports have not been confirmed.

Moving screens supply to Sharp will help ease off reliance on LG and especially Samsung, which is currently locked in several patent battles with Apple across multiple continents. Sharp is also said to be supplying Apple’s rumored iTV for 2012.

[via 9to5 Mac]

Although Apple has always been known for its close involvement with suppliers, the Sharp deal is said to escalate that collaboration to new levels. Apple has supposedly bought its own manufacturing equipment – using its hefty reserves of cash to cover hardware supposedly priced between $500m and $1bn – and will begin producing iPhone and iPad displays with exclusive space in one of Sharp’s facilities imminently.

“Apple likes to go right to the factory floor, redesign the process, monitor it,” Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek wrote in the guidance note. “Except with Sharp it looks like they’re taking that one step further where they will actually own the intellectual property and physically own the equipment … It gives Apple a partner that they can control manufacturing and secure supply at a lower price.”

The exact functionality of the “iTV” is unclear, though Apple is believed to be leveraging its Siri digital personal assistant system to replace the traditional remote control. Integration with the cloud-based multimedia aspects of iOS 5.0 and iCloud are also likely, along with the ability to purchase and rent content directly from the TV set itself.

The tablet is the Galapagos EB-A71GJ-B and it has a 7-inch screen and runs Android 3.2. The tablet also has WiMax support. The tablet is tipped to be launching on September 12. WiFi is built-in as well and the tablet can be used for WiMax tethering of other devices. The hotspot functionality will support up to seven other devices.

The 7-inch screen resolution is 1024 x 600 and the chip inside is a Tegra 2 with dual-cores. The tablet has 1GB of memory and has a microSD card slot. Internal storage is 8GB and Bluetooth is integrated as well. Sharp also gave the tablet HDMI output for watching on TV as well. The rear camera is a 5MP unit and the front is 2MP. The tablet may get an Android 4.0 update as well.

[via AV.watch]

Sharp is the first maker of devices that LightSquared has chosen to launch a strategic collaboration with. The goal of the agreement is to produce a range of product solutions that take advantage of Sharp hardware like advanced LCD panels and camera modules. The devices will be co-developed and then offered to the LightSquared customers for their networks.

LightSquared will be showing off some of its devices at CTIA Enterprise and Applications conference on October 11-13 in San Diego. The LightSquared 4G network uses LTE technology. I would expect the service offered by LightSpeed to find its way into the offerings of some of the smaller carriers around the country.

[via LightSquared]

There’s also the Sharp AQUOS 102SH, which has the same display and camera as the 104SH but pairs it with a 1GHz dual-core and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. That will drop in early December this year, complete with both CDMA and GSM connectivity for data speeds of up to 21Mbps downlink.

The Panasonic LUMIX 101P is the photographer’s phone, with a 13.2-megapixel camera packed inside an Android 2.3 handset. The display is a 4-inch qHD 960 x 540 panel, there’s IPX5/IPX7 ruggedness and all in something just 9.8mm thick. Japanese shutterbugs can expect it in mid-November.

Finally, there’s the Dell Streak Pro 101DL, and despite the Streak name implying it slots into the company’s tablet range, in fact it’s a big smartphone with a 4.3-inch qHD 960 x 540 Super AMOLED touchscreen, 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8260 processor, WiFi a/b/g/n and an 8-megapixel main camera. It’ll drop in January 2012.

No word on international availability for any of the new handsets, though that won’t stop us hoping.

[via Impress]

The 80-inch screen has more than twice the screen area of a 55-inch HDTV. The LED backlighting means it will slurp less power than CCFL sets and it has a nice contrast ratio of 6M:1 dynamic. The set also features a 120Hz Fine Motion Enhanced refresh rate for a clear image and the TV is almost 2-feet deep making it much thinner than projection TVs. The online connectivity of the TV allows tech support to assist with TV setup if needed.

The panel the big TV uses has 10-bit processing to minimize light leakage. The TV also features dual USB ports and a special Vyper Drive engine to reduce lag when gaming using the big TV. Sharp doesn’t mention the connectivity, but I would bet it has at least four HDMI ports and more on the back. The TV will land in October for $5,499.99, which is a good price considering the size of the screen.

As for the 7-inch Sharp Galapagos A01SH, which was officially announced back in August, that’s on track though there’s no exact release date yet. It will have a 1024 x 600 resolution panel, 5-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front camera, and an integrated modem for up to 42Mbps downloads on Japanese networks. OS is Android 3.2 Honeycomb running on NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 dual-core, and Sharp reckons battery life will be in the region of 7.5 hours.

All well and good, but with Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 7.7 packing a 1280 x 800 panel the A01SH may start looking less than competitive too. Sharp hasn’t said exactly why it’s canning the two existing models, though to be fair they’re now twelve months old and that’s a long time in tech.

The Aquos SH8298U features a 4.2-inch qHD display, a 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 single-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 2GB onboard storage, and a 1240mAh battery. The specs are less stellar than those of the dual-core LG Optimus 3D and HTC EVO 3D, but the Aquos does offer 8-megapixel cameras while the other two offer only 5-megapixel cameras.

The device will come running Android 2.3 Gingerbread and will be launching on SoftBank in Japan. However, an exact date of availability hasn’t been revealed yet and neither has pricing. Availability for other markets such as the US are also unlikely.

[via Android Community]

Currently, while several manufacturers have smart TV offerings, most use different approaches to how applications are developed. That forces coders to either stick to a single brand or spend time porting their apps between platforms; meanwhile, other approaches – such as Google TV - are yet to even support third-party software.

The TV trio have mobile-style success in their sights, with Havis Kwon, President and CEO of LG Electronics describing the deal as “a major step towards creating an app market every bit as inventive and dynamic as the one that exists for smartphones.” They’re also inviting other vendors to join them.

What remains to be seen is whether LG, Philips, Sharp and others can shore up developer support before one of the big CE names like Apple or Google begins taking smart TV seriously and launches their own app platform for the living room. So far, iOS and Android developers don’t have a simple route to get their software onto the TV, but it’s a case of “when” not “if” Apple TV and Google TV get opened up to their respective app stores.

As far as I can tell, and correct me if I’m wrong, but this may well be the first NFC-enabled tablet anywhere in the world. Likely this is because bringing a tablet into a store with you isn’t nearly as convenient as bringing in a smartphone, and likely if you’ve got a tablet you’ve got a smartphone in your pocket and if you’re in Japan, likely your smartphone has NFC capabilities built in as well. Sharp has released several Android tablets before this, not being a group that waits for updates to OS versions, all of them running pre-Honeycomb builds – save the Sharp Galapagos 7-inch tablet that’ll be coming out at the end of August.

Of course all that wont matter once Ice Cream Sandwich is released, it being an OS which mixes handset and tablet capabilities. This RW-T107 unit is at the moment being prepared for Japan only at the moment, so we can expect a Japan-only release at 5,000 units a month starting on the 5th of September. Additional specifications on the tablet are not yet known, but it appears that it’s got a headphone jack, a couple of speakers, microUSB port, SIM card slot, and HDMI – though that’s all just guesses based on the image we’ve got. Grab it!

[via Sharp]

This device has a fully waterproof body, boasts a 3.4-inch LCD touchscreen display with 854 x 480 pixel resolution, has a fabulous 0.7-inch OLED sub-display, connects along IEEE 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0 EDR, and will be rolling out on the same carrier as the Yahoo! phone, SoftBank. This device has a massive 16 megapixel camera on the back of the base capable of 1,280 x 720 pixel HD video recording. That’s insane. The best we’ve got here in the states is 8 megapixel cameras on our most advanced smartphones capable of 1080p recording at best. This device, like any good Japanese smartphone, has a digital TV tuner and e-wallet functionality as well.

The insides of the phones are all covered in Hello Kitty including wallpapers, icons, widgets, and apps. This device will be shipping in Japan next month – can we hope for such a masterpiece of oddities here in the United States anytime soon? Something tells me that no, not a chance. Physical keypad? The West hate such atrocities in the modern world. A flip phone? The West would never be caught using another Motorola RAZR. And yet this device and its perfectly neat Qualcomm MSM8255 1GHz processor is such an awesome little package, I can’t help but wish for it — perhaps with a slightly different branding, as it were. Maybe Sponge Bob?

This device is said to be being carried in the very near future by SoftBank in Japan, still just called “Yahoo! Phone” as far as we can tell, and will feature a 1 Ghz single-core processor, a 4-inch qHD display, and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. There will also be at least one camera, on the backside, this big shooter with a flash and rated at 8 megapixels strong. Similar to many devices in the country, this Japanese device will also have a TV tuner equipped for all your television watching needs.

Surprisingly, this device appears to have the official Android Market aboard, so like the LG Revolution 4G here in the USA, for example, this device will be featuring a non-Google search engine alongside a Google-run apps market. As not many more details about the device are yet known, we’re not sure if this means you’ll be getting the rest of the Google suite of apps like Gmail, and Voice search out of the box, but you’ll certainly be able to download them easily from the Android Market if indeed it does stick around for the final release.

This release make sense to those of you in Japan? Or has Yahoo! shown it’s true colors as what appears now to be a lower company than Google where it was once the clear king of the web?

It’s a component strategy we’ve seen Apple use before, leaving rivals to scrabble for remaining supply if they hope to meet their own sales targets. Back in February, Apple was tipped to have tied up 60-percent of the touch panel supply for 2011, and the company’s voracious demand is already said to have delayed RIM’s launch of the BlackBerry PlayBook as well as cast doubts across whether Amazon will be able to produce as many of its well-rumored tablets as it hopes to.

“We think it is highly possible that Apple will make an investment in Sharp’s Kameyama plant to the tune of around $1 billion in order to secure stable supply of screens for iPhones and iPads” Rubenstein suggested in a note to investors earlier today. Sharp shares have jumped in response, though the company has not commented since it is closed for the summer holidays.

The Galapagos A01SH 7-inch tablet has a slim LCD screen that measures 7-inches and has a resolution of 1024 x 600. The rear camera on the tablet is a 5MP unit and it has a 2MP front camera for video calling. It also has an internal modem supporting downloads at up to 42Mbps. The operating system for the tablet is Android 3.2 Honeycomb.

The little Android tablet has a very attractive design and looks really cool. The processor is a Tegra 2 dual-core from NVIDIA running at 1.2GHz. It also has 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. Sharp claims the battery inside the tablet is good for about 7.5 hours of use. Pricing is unknown but with a launch only weeks away that price should get official soon.

[via Android Community]

The main chamber itself uses a double purification system to make sure no contaminants get into whatever it is that Sharp is growing. First, a near-perfect vacuum is created, sucking out any airborne motes or other objects; then, liquid nitrogen is used to cool the outer surface of the chamber. When objects land on it, they instantly stick and freeze.

Substrate wafers are loaded inside and then manipulated into position using magnets on the outside; the various chemicals layered on top are kept in canisters around the outer edges, and released in controlled amounts using shutter doors. Because of the carefully maintained environment, they settle in a perfectly even layer, with the orientation decided by the atomic structure of the wafer itself: Sharp uses sapphire bases with various chemical toppings for Blu-ray lasers, for instance.

With the current MBE, Sharp can produce a couple of small trays of LEDs in a day. However, the production techniques being experimented with should eventually head to more mass-production friendly facilities, where bigger numbers can be catered for.

As for the Sharp slate, the FCC has few details of the Galapagos-branded slate, though the label diagram – shown above – does reveal a rear camera along with what looks like it could be an LED flash. The tapered edges obviously have plenty of ports and controls, too, though what exactly they are remains to be seen.

Samsung previously suggested that the Galaxy Tab 8.9 would arrive at some point over the summer, priced at $469 and $569 for the 16GB and 32GB models respectively; there was no mention at the time of 3G support, so we’re guessing those prices are for the WiFi-only variants. However, more recent talk of production delays over LCD screen issues have raised the suggestion that the Galaxy Tab 8.9 may be a little further out than expected.

The Sharp Galapagos EB-W71LJ-H tablet, meanwhile, is a whole lot more mysterious. Beyond its WiFi b/g/n connection we don’t know much about it, including launch details. Previously, it was confirmed that the 10.1-inch and 5.5-inch Galapagos models already launched in Japan would arrive in the US and elsewhere in early 2011.

[via Android Community 1 (Samsung) and 2 (Sharp)]

If you aren’t familiar, Super Hi-Vision is a TV format that offers much higher resolution than HDTVs that are available today. Super Hi-Vision packs in 7680 x 4320 pixels for very life like images. That resolution is a total of 33MP making it 16 times higher resolution of HDTV today. Sharp’s Sharp’s UV2A*2 LCD technology was used in the project. The new screen has 10-bit color and a brightness rating of 300 cd/m2.

The pixel pitch of the screen is 0.245mm and the panel is LED backlit. The new screen is being displayed at the NHK 2011 STRL Open House in Tokyo. The screen is very impressive; I don’t see any transition to a higher resolution format anytime soon though. I think that 1080p serves most viewers well and broadcasters are going to implement 3D before we see any push to higher than current HD resolutions.

[via AV.Watch]

There’s also WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, digital TV and an HDMI output, despite the phone measuring in at 64 x 127 x 11.9-13.8 mm. The display is a glasses-free 3D panel, and the camera has onboard ProPix image processing and various auto scene modes.

NTT DoCoMo slap the TapFlow UI on top, and of course there are the usual Android niceties. The Sharp AQUOS PHONE SH-12C will drop in Japan on May 20, price tbc; no word on whether Sharp will cook up versions for North America and/or Europe, but we’re hoping they do.

Press Release:

NTT DOCOMO Unveils 24 New Mobile Devices
— Including biggest and most diverse lineup of smartphones —
Products & Services
TOKYO, JAPAN, May 16, 2011 — NTT DOCOMO, INC. announced today its 2011 summer lineup of 24 new mobile devices for launch on or after May 20, including nine smartphones, the largest and most diverse collection of smartphones ever released by DOCOMO, plus a wide variety of feature phones compatible with DOCOMO’s i-mode™ mobile Internet platform, as well as mobile Wi-Fi® routers for DOCOMO’s Xi™ (read “Crossy”) LTE extra-high-speed service.

The smartphone lineup offers user-friendly features for tethering, mobile-wallet (Osaifu-Keitai™) and infrared-based data exchange, plus downlink speeds up to a theoretical maximum of 14 Mbps starting from early June. The lineup also boasts the world’s first wirelessly chargeable smartphone. All Android™ smartphones, including the globally popular Xperia™ and GALAXY models, are preinstalled with Android 2.3.

DOCOMO’s new lineup meets a broad range of needs for mobile users in Japan:

Numerous i-mode services and technologies available for smartphones, including Area Mail™ disaster information service, i-channel™ push-based information service and Melody Call™ ringback tones.
Smartphones offering enhanced convenience and operability thanks to the new “docomo Palette UI” feature for easy sorting, searching and management of apps.
Eleven high-spec, i-mode-compatible feature phones equipped variously with 3D screens for dynamic viewing, HD-quality cameras and much more.
The i-motion™ video-clip distribution service for FOMA™ 3G feature phones now offers 50 MB capacity for both long and high-definition video. Batch downloads of various content are possible with DOCOMO’s new “content package” service.
Two mobile Wi-Fi routers compatible with DOCOMO’s Xi-brand LTE service, offering fiber-optic-level mobile connectivity for wireless devices. LTE service will include Japan’s six largest urban metropolises by July and other large cities including prefectural capitals by March 2012.

The new smartphone carriers the Aquos name and is the Aquos Phone SH-12C. The phone has dual 2MP camera sensors on the front with dual lenses to shoot 3D still photos and 3D HD resolution video. The smartphone also has an HDMI output that will shoot that 3D content out to the Aquos TV in your living room. The screen on the phone is a big 4.2-inch unit with a resolution of 540 x 960. It’s not clear if the screen requires glasses for viewing the 3D content or not.

The smartphone runs the Android 2.3 OS and has the TapFlow UI over the top of the OS. The smartphone also has WiFi and can be used as a hotspot as well. It will ship in Japan on May 20 according to Sharp and will come in white and black versions. Pricing and availability in other countries is unknown. The phone will hit NTT DoCoMo in Japan.

[via Android Community]

The display system puts the screens on the floor, walls and ceilings and it takes 156 of the screens to make the attraction work. Each of those panels is 60-inches in size and they are Sharp PN-V601 screens. The attraction is called the 5D Miracle Tour and it looks interesting. Visitors don’t get to walk on the floor screens, from the rendering it appears that the viewers stand at railings behind the room.

The front wall, floor, and ceiling each have 36 monitors on them each and the sidewalls use 24 monitors. The official release says that the finished effect surround the viewing in a giant seamless display. The rendering hardly looks seamless; perhaps the real thing has less of a seam. This looks like an interesting attraction; I can see people, crowding in to see underwater views and other types of movies. It’s too bad the screens aren’t strong enough to stand on, it would be really cool to stand in the middle of that room.

[via Akihabara News]

The LCD displays made by Sharp will feature a low-temperature poly-silicon technology, which will allow for a lighter and thinner display that will also consume less energy. These p-Si LCDs have thin film transistors (TFT) made of polycristalline silicon. Through this method, display drivers are mounted directly onto the glass substrate, thus reducing the TFT layer and making a thinner display. The p-Si display also has a higher aperture ratio that produces more vivid images, enhances durability, and reduces the amount of connecting pins.

This report is interesting because it suggests that Apple is not considering the organic LED displays such as the ones used by Samsung with their Super AMOLED technology. This news also comes just after Apple and Samsung’s legal battle began between their competing smartphone and tablet devices. Perhaps Apple is trying to shift away from Samsung as a main components suppler?

[via AppleInsider]

Sharp has announced that it is set to commercialize the world’s first small and medium size LCD panels that new a new oxide semiconductor. Sharp plans to start making these screens at its Kameyama Plant 2 sometime this year. These small and medium size panels will find their way into the smartphones and tablets we are using over the next year or so. The new Sharp panels will use InGaZnO material in the thin-film transistor and they will be the first screens on the world to use the material.

The new panels will be very energy efficient leading to longer battery life for the portable devices that use the screen. The energy efficiency is thanks to the downsizing of the transistor and by increasing the light transmittance for each pixel. The screens will be cost competitive according to Sharp and will use 8th generation glass substrates. There is now word at this point, on what devices will use the screens or an exact date when the production of the screens will start. These new thin screens combined with the new SanDisk 19nm chips would make for an impressive smartphone.

[via JCN Network]

As for the displays themselves, the four sets use edge-lit LED X-Gen LCD panels and Sharp’s Quattron Quad Pixel Technology. The latter adds in a dedicated yellow pixel to the usual red/green/blue trio, making yellow-hued pictures more lifelike and allowing more light through the panel so that the HDTV as a whole is brighter.

Four HDMI ports round out the key specs, and pricing kicks off from $1,299.99 for the 40-inch Sharp AQUOS Quattron LC-40LE830U. The LC-46LE830U has an MSRP of $1,499.99, the LC-52LE830U has an MSRP of $1,899.99, and finally the 60-inch LC-60LE830U has an MSRP of $2,799.99.

Press Release:

Sharp Ships Four New AQUOS Quattron LED LCD TVs in March

AQUOS Quattron LE830 Series TV models are available in 60-, 52-, 46- and 40-inch screen size classes
Quattron Quad Pixel Technology
Each provides built-in WiFi and a suite of network features including CinemaNow™, Netflix®, VUDU™, DLNA® video streaming and AQUOS Advantage Livesm customer service

Sharp Electronics Corporation is shipping all four of the LE830 Series AQUOS Quattron LED LCD TV models it introduced at CES in March, including models in 60-, 52-, 46- and 40-inch screen size classes. All models employ Sharp’s proprietary edge-lit LED X-Gen LCD panels and Quattron Quad Pixel Technology for the widest color palette available from LCD TVs and brighter images. Built-in WiFi in all models delivers wide network functionality such as video streaming from the Internet and throughout the home, as well as Sharp’s best-in-class AQUOS Advantage Live customer service.

Each AQUOS Quattron model features Sharp’s proprietary Quad Pixel Technology that adds the color Y (yellow) to the three colors of R (red), G (green), and B (blue) of the traditional television pixel structure. This technology enables the reproduction of colors that have been difficult to portray using conventional LCD displays, such as the brass color of musical instruments. The addition of the yellow sub-pixel also allows more light to pass through to the panel. Sharp’s advanced pixel control technology minimizes light leakage while offering a wider aperture to let more light through. The combination of these factors results in brighter, more vibrant images. Sharp’s LE830 Series models also employ Quad Pixel Plus to improve image resolution.

These models also offer built-in WiFi and access to Netflix, VUDU and CinemaNow, as well as four HDMI inputs for simple connections to multiple HD components. An attractive slim and narrow bezel design provides a great complement to any home theater viewing environment.

The new Sharp AQUOS Quattron LCD TVs boast extremely low power consumption and are ENERGY STAR 5.1 qualified, the highest energy efficiency specification.

Last week, Sharp Electronics Corporation announced it had been selected to receive a 2011 Excellence in Energy Efficient Product Design Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ENERGY STAR® program. This award recognizes Sharp’s ongoing commitment to promoting energy-efficiency amongst the consumer electronics and business products’ trade and consumers, as well as the company’s efforts to lead by example in the execution of its business operations.

Pricing and Availability
The LC-60LE830U has an MSRP of $2,799.99
The LC-52LE830U has an MSRP of $1,899.99
The LC-46LE830U has an MSRP of $1,499.99
The LC-40LE830U has an MSRP of $1,299.99

Sanwa points out Sony, Sharp, Toshiba, and Panasonic as manufacturers that their new universal 3D glasses will work with just fine. Companies like LG, Samsung, and Vizio are apparently being left out in the cold. The glasses are available right now through Sanwa’s online store, and cost around $7,800 yen, or about $95. You’ll be able to charge the glasses through USB, though. And they’re probably better than not having any glasses to watch your 3D entertainment.

[via Akihabara News]

R3 Media Network

Editor’s Choice
Watch a Leica M9 get built on video! [FUN!]
fail0verflow hacker group discovers epic PS3 security bypass [BROKEN!]
Mushkin adds more RAM kits to cool Radioactive line [BRILLIANT]
Motorola DROID XOOM tablet has optional LTE 4G modem [PUMP IT UP!]

SlashPhone
Skype for iPhone Now Supports Video Calling
Verizon Wireless to Demo Home Monitoring and Control Service at CES 2011
Micro-USB Charging Port to be Standard for Mobile Phones
AT&T Deploying More WiFi Hotzones

Android Community
Hybrid combines iPhone/Android/Game Boy into geeky mashup
Android app for French hunters lets you share pics and more while on the hunt
Sharp Galapagos tablets headed to US early in 2011
Rockchip RK29xx benchmarked on way to affordable 1080p phones & tablets [Video]
Creative Zen Touch 2 Android 2.1 PMP crosses FCC on way to US
Geinimi Android trojan piggybacks 3rd-party apps & sends personal info to hackers
Motorola DROID XOOM tablet has optional LTE 4G modem
Android Honeycomb Music Player: Full Guide [Early Leak]

SlashGear
Kindle ebook loans now available
LucidLogix Virtu dynamic GPU system for Intel Sandy Bridge revealed
Google carrier ambitions the “nuclear option” says analyst
Skype iPhone video calls could eat AT&T data plan in under an hour
Apple should buy Netflix says analyst as iTunes rentals surge
RIM deny Indian BlackBerry monitoring claims
Phoenix Gold to show OEM integration i-Series car amp at CES 2011
Smart TV could overwhelm the internet warns analyst
Watch a Leica M9 get built on video!
Inderes estimates Nokia shipped 3.5 to 4M Nokia N8 smartphones in Q4
fail0verflow hacker group discovers epic PS3 security bypass
AMD to officially announce Brazos netbook and tablet platform at CES 2011
Gigabyte Q2005 netbook gets Atom N550 love
US Android geeks can get Sharp Galapagos tablets in early 2011
Mushkin adds more RAM kits to cool Radioactive line
Verizon to show off new connected home and home automation gear at CES
LG to “actively respond” to Sony patent lawsuit over phone infringement
ABI Research predicts 7 trillion SMS messages will be sent in 2011
RIM deny PlayBook power problems: any testing was on “pre-beta” units
Android Geinimi trojan infecting phones through side-loaded apps
B&N NOOK2 trademark application tips next ereader?
Apple’s Verizon iPhone unveil by February 14 claims insider
Skype for iPhone adds video calling over 3G/WiFi [Video]
Motorola DROID XOOM tablet to have optional 4G LTE, go on sale February 14?
LG Smart TV Upgrader ST600 makes your dumb HDTV internet-connected
ASUS Eee Pad EP71, EP101, EP102 and EP121 get short-lived tease
Ford SYNC Destinations app remotely programs your PND
Android 3.0 Honeycomb Music Player Leaked, Ready for Download [UPDATE: Not for Everyone!]

To see more wrap-up posts, follow the following tags: [The Daily Slash] or [SlashGear Morning Wrap-up]

The tablets will hit the States first and then be rolled out to China and India. Sharp also reportedly plans to roll out the Galapagos content service in America along with the tablets. The content service is basically a bookstore with other content for the devices like digital magazines that supports the EPUB format.

Sharp will undoubtedly be working hard to get publishers to put their content on the content store. On the hardware side of things the tablets that land in the US are expected to be versions of those Japanese tablets we mentioned last month with 3G in addition to the WiFi. Pricing for the US is not verified at this time. I hope they come in at a lower price than the converted prices for the Japanese offerings, they seem expensive to me compared to other tablets.

Via Android Community

However, Samsung and Vizio are both still expected to launch products running Google TV, though Vizio’s devices will only be open to private viewings. Toshiba VP of digital products, Jeff Barney, confirmed that the company “will not be announcing a Toshiba TV or Blu-ray player or demonstrating the products at CES,” and claims that Toshiba has “an understanding with Google about the future product roadmap and will bring the right product out at the right timeframe.”

The exact nature of that timeframe is currently unclear. Google released an update for Google TV last week that addressed some of the more common user complaints, but analysts are suggesting that it could be the holiday 2011 season before the platform gains traction. That would give Google time to develop the Google TV app store, as well as hopefully iron out content deals with the networks that have blocked the system.

The panels Sharp is producing will mostly be purchased by Apple to go to future iPhone models, the paper continues, suggesting they will be high-resolution “Retina Display” units. The facility Sharp plans on using was previously employed for large-panel LCD production, but the new smaller LCD equipment will be installed in 2011 and mass production kick off in the second half of 2012.

Unlike Toshiba, which has outright denied Apple investment in their new plant, Sharp has merely declined to comment on the speculation. Sharp already offers a Retina Display matching panel in its own IS03 Android smartphone, currently only on sale in Japan.

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The smaller Galapagos has a 1024 x 600 resolution display and is available in either red or silver; the larger model has a 1366 x 700 display and comes in black only. Sharp expect the former to be used while mobile, claiming it fits into a breast pocket and giving it a trackball for one-handed use, while the 10.8-inch slate is intended for home use.

As for more content options, Sharp intends to expand its download store to support music and video in Spring 2011. More information at Sharp’s official product page here, and in our hands-on report.

[via Android Community]

SlashSECURITY
Homeland Security Investigations unit ICE has been busy this week, launching a major crackdown on what appears to be two categories of webpages: copyrighted music download sites (such as torrent listing sites) and sites selling knockoffs of trademarked goods (such as designer handbags). The owner of one of these sites, Torrent-Finder, had the following to say to the site that’s reporting on the situation, TorrentFreak: “My domain has been seized without any previous complaint or notice from any court! … I firstly had DNS downtime. While I was contacting GoDaddy I noticed the DNS had changed. Godaddy had no idea what was going on and until now they do not understand the situation and they say it was totally from ICANN.” Be on your guard, but we’re not sure what that could entail, as no details on how to appeal HSI’s seizings seem to be available.

[Via TorrentFreak]

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NTT DoCoMo is getting the Sharp LYNX SH-03C, complete with a 9-megapixel camera and Android 2.1, while Softbank will have two GALAPAGOS series phones.  The GALAPAGOS 003SH has a 9.6-megapixel camera, while the GALAPAGOS 005SH has an 8-megapixel camera and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard; they also run Android.

“We want to expand our market share with phones that have unique abilities and original services” a Sharp representative said. Meanwhile, Sharp is apparently also considering expanding its GALAPAGOS ebook distribution platform to the US and China, to support its pair of ereader tablets.

[via Android Community and via 3D-Display-Info]

The new 3D Blu-ray player is only 35mm thick, which you can already guess makes it the thinnest 3D Blu-ray player out there. And, as the image above shows, the Blu-ray player can actually work just as easily standing on its side, as it can lying down. You’ll find an Ethernet port, HDMI interface, and a USB port on the back of the device. There’s an AQUOS Link, too. While the device can indeed play 3D Blu-ray discs, it does not support BDXL.

At the moment, Sharp is only planning on releasing the new Blu-ray player in Japan, and that begins on November 20th. Price wise, it will retail for about $495. Unfortunately, there’s no word on any kind of international release.

[via Ubergizmo]

Both get WiFi b/g, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and GPS, along with up to 7.2Mbps WCDMA downloads and the usual suite of Google apps.  Storage is via microSD, with the slot compatible with up to 32GB cards.

Softbank will be offering various color options of the 003SH, together with a promo including bundled Bose headsets.  Meanwhile a Capcom tie-in will see titles like Mega Man, Ghosts ‘n Goblins: Gold Knights, and Resident Evil: Degeneration all preloaded onto both GALAPAGOS devices and playable in 3D.  The 003SH will go on sale in December 2010, with the 005SH following on in January 2011.

[via Android Community]

Unfortunately, it also gets you a Japanese-spec 3G radio, suited to carrier KDDI but not much use in the US, together with just Android 1.6.  Still, we’re guessing there’ll be a fair few people still interested; check out Pocketables‘ first-impressions for more information.

[via Android Community]